Farooq rejects JKCA Scam allegations

Union Minister Farooq Abdullah today rejected as unfortunate allegations of his involvement in the multi-crore J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) scam, an issue which also rocked the state Assembly.

"I have not taken a penny in any form from JKCA. There is no question of any money being bungled. The tarnishing of my image is unfortunate," Farooq, who heads the JKCA, told reporters in Delhi, breaking his silence on the allegations that there was bungling of funds received by the state cricket body from the BCCI.

The assertion by Farooq, who heads the JKCA, came on a day when opposition PDP raised the scam issue in the state Assembly demanding a CBI probe into alleged bungling of funds and gave a notice for an adjournment motion to enable an immediate discussion.

The notice was however rejected by Assembly Speaker Mohmmad Akbar Lone amid pandemonium with PDP members raising anti-government slogans following up with a walkout.

J&K Police on Saturday registered a case against two former officials of JKCA following allegations of misappropriation of funds, received by the body from the BCCI.

The case was registered against the then treasurer Ehsan Mirza and then General Secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan based on the complaint lodged by JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni.

After PDP members staged a walkout from the Assembly, its leader Mehbooba Mufti demanded that an FIR be lodged against Farooq.

"We demand a CBI probe in multi-crore scam in JKCA headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah as was done in case of Suresh Kalmadi. An FIR should be lodged against him", Mehbooba told reporters outside the Assembly complex in Jammu.

Mehbooba, who along with other members of PDP were sitting on stairs leading to Assembly complex and raising anti-government slogans, said "we want Centre to take cognizance of the multi-crore scam invovling Farooq and take same measures as they did to their Chief Ministers and Ministers in connection with allegations against them".

Reacting to Mehbooba's allegations against him, Farooq said she should check facts before making charges.

"I am too clean for Mehbooba Mufti to rub dirt on me," he said, adding, "law will take its own course." The Union Minister reiterated there was no embezzlement of any funds.

As Assembly proceedings began this morning, PDP legislators led by Mehbooba, who is also Leader of Opposition, raised the issue of alleged financial bungling in JKCA.

Javaid Mir and A R Veeri sought adjournment of the Business of the question hour and holding of a debate.

Speaker Lone said he has rejected the adjournment notice as the issue raised in it has already come up in the House.

The members stood up from their benches and resorted to sloganeering against the state government.

Even as the question hour continued amid noisy scenes, there was no let up in slogan shouting by PDP members.

Mehbooba alleged that it was Farooq as President of JKCA who wrote to Bank to facilitate transitions. "He cannot make someone scape-goat and allow himself to go scot-free," she said.

However, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Ali Mohmmad Sagar told reporters that PDP wants to rake up the issue for political gains.

"When an FIR has been lodged on the direction of Dr Abdullah himself, how is that they reach to conclusions", he said, asking PDP how it has reached the conclusion to allege there was a "Rs 50 Crore embezzlement."

The embezzlement of several crores of rupees was detected in JKCA funds a few days ago, following which the then treasurer Ehsan Mirza and former general secretary and current Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Saleem Khan were sacked from the JKCA.

In a letter to JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni on Saturday, the Khanyar branch manager of JK Bank wrote that an amount of Rs 1.90 crore has been credited to the account of Mirza based on the authority letter allegedly issued by the JKCA President.

Farooq said this amount was released following a resolution passed by JKCA to allow work of the association to go on.

Muharum processions in Srinagar

Bajaj Allianz launchs ULIP 

Balwant Thakur honoured at Madhya Pradesh

JKCA members demand Gonis ouster

Police raids office, residences of Mirza, Khan

Police today raided the office of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) and the residences of two accused in the multi-crore scam in the Association after an FIR was lodged against them with the police. The working committee members of the JKCA have asked the president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, to clean the mess in JKCA by removing backdoor entrants like its chairman, Aslam Goni.

JKCA chairman, Mohammad Aslam Goni, today lodged an FIR (27/2012 dated 10-03-2011) in the police station Ram Munshi Bagh, Srinagar, against former general secretary Ahsan Mirza and former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Salim Khan.

Police conducted raids in the JKCA office at high security Sonwar area in the SK Cricket Stadium in the morning and seized the records of the Association. However, they could only find the records from July 2011 onwards as they were told that rest of the records are with former general secretary, Ahsan Mirza.

Soon after, the police party raided the house of Salim Khan at Chhanpora and documents regarding JKCA were seized from there. It was followed by the raid on the house of Ahsan Mirza at Nageen where documents pertaining to JKCA were seized. However, neither Salim Khan nor Ahsan Mirza were present at their residences as both of them evaded arrests.

Both Mirza and Khan approached the session's court Srinagar for anticipatory bail. Mirza was granted the anticipatory bail by the Session Court till Wednesday while Khan was refused the bail as court asked him to wait for the police report.

Both Mirza and Khan were called by SSP Srinagar Aashiq Bukhari to his office in the evening. Mirza went straight to SSP's office from the Court while Khan didn't report to his office as he was not granted the anticipatory bail.

Meanwhile, Excelsior has got hold of a letter (Shiraz/ADV/2012) that was issued on March 1, 2012 by the Manager Jammu and Kashmir Bank Branch, Khanyar, Srinagar. The letter addressed to the chairman JKCA says: "On the authority of letter issued by hon'ble president J&KCA the loan of ` 1.9 crore was raised against own deposits of the Association on July 3, 2008 and proceeds whereof were credited to Current Account No. 90695 of Ahsan Mirza maintained with the business unit."

The letter confirmed that the loan of ` 1.9 crore on July 7, 2008 availed by Ahsan Mirza against the two fixed deposits of JKCA bearing numbers 1824619 and 1824620 of ` 1.15 crore each and was credited to his account had sanction of the JKCA top brass.

It may be mentioned here that the letter was issued by the manger in order to save his skin after he was repeatedly asked by the present treasurer, Manzoor Wazir, about the ` 1.9 crore loan that was raised by JKCA and transferred to Ahsan Mirza's account.

In the meantime, records suggested that the JKCA's shady Current Account (90696) in J&K Bank Branch Khanyar was opened by Ahsan Mirza after the production of a copy of the 2005-2006 Resolution of the JKCA that was signed by JKCA president Farooq Abdullah, Saleem Khan and Ahsan Mirza. However, then Chairman Mehboob Iqbal had not signed it.

Meanwhile, the JKCA members today demanded suspension of the chairman of the JKCA, Aslam Goni, former secretary Ahsan Mirza and former CAO Salim Khan from the working committee.

In a resolution passed unanimously today by the 35 members of the working committee, president of the JKCA, Dr Farooq Abdullah was asked to convene a meeting of the fresh working committee members and dissolve the present office bearers.

The resolution said that the scam has tarnished the image of JKCA and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). "The office bearers of the JKCA are not the genuine members of the Association and have forced their entry in the JKCA through sheer exploitation of their contacts", the resolution read.

The genuine cricketers can never indulge in such type of loot of money meant for cricket and we feel that making a scape goat can't clean the Association, the resolution reads further.

The chairman of the Bank Mushtaq Ahmad, meanwhile has directed the Supervision and Control division of the bank to probe how the JKCA officials were allowed to withdraw such huge amounts of money in cash and other aspects of the JKCA accounts.

"We are investigating the case and it will take some time. The bank division is already looking into the matter", the chairman added.

Our Jammu Correspondent adds:-

Aslam Goni told press conference that JKCA will cooperate with the investigating agencies to unearth the scam and make all the records available for their perusal so that action may be taken against the persons, who were found guilty in the multi-crore scam.

Goni further stated that Ahsan Mirza accepted his fault and asked the authorities that he will pay the amount back to JKCA during a meeting with him and other officials of the association at Srinagar.

Responding to the queries, Goni said that the current treasurer Manzoor Ahmad Wazir of the association noticed the bogus account of the Jammu Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) and bungling of crores of rupees being provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as subsidy and informed Dr Farooq Abdullah, president of the association, who further told him to lodge an FIR in this regard, so that the truth may come out.

He further added that they have taken the matter with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and have asked them to provide full details of the subsidy amount sanctioned to JKCA from the year 1996 to till date so that they can detect the fraud.

Horticulture Expo 2011

Chief Ministers Constituency Without Water Supply

Mubarak Mandi ropeway project

JKCA Multi Crore Scam in Jammu Kashmir

The buck may not stop at the former general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), Ahsan Mirza, the main accused in the multi-crore scam that surfaced in the Association. Around ` 33 crores that were deposited in three accounts were siphoned off by the JKCA members and sources said there are few more accounts that have not been traced yet.

Ahsan Mirza, general secretary and Salim Khan, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Association are apparently the main accused in the scam as the documentary evidence is against them but sources said more people could be involved.

Mirza and Khan are the two close lieutenants of the JKCA president Dr Farooq Abdullah and were asked to resign on Wednesday on behalf of president after the scam was unearthed by the current treasurer Manzoor Ahmad Wazir.

There were three accounts of the JKCA that were being operated by Mirza and Khan who were treasurer and general secretary between 2008 and 2011 respectively. These three accounts were not mentioned in the audit report 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 of the JKCA that led to suspicion and unearthening of the scam.

Records of the JKCA available with the Jk Newsrevealed that one of these three Accounts, CD-90606, was opened in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch Khanyar, Srinagar on June 21, 2008. On the same day Ahsan Mirza opened a personal account CD-90605 in the same branch.

The account CD-90606 was operated upto May 3, 2011 by Mirza and Khan and was closed and a new account, CD 91022 was opened on the same day in the same branch of the bank with an opening balance of ` 15,000.

The CD-90606 account was opened with ` 10,000 and ` 7.2 crore was deposited in it on February 19, 2009 through bank transfer from account 010126650-1198 and same day it was kept as fixed deposit by the JKCA. On May 4, 2009 first cheque bearing number 19400001 of ` 5 lakh was issued in favour of self by Mirza and Khan.

And for next three years, an amount of `13.29 crore Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) money was credited and then debited from the account before it was closed last year. Maximum amount was drawn in favour of Ahsan Mirza and self -Mirza and Khan.

Rupees 1.92 crore cheques have been issued in favour of Ahsan Mirza, ` 42 lakh in favour of one Abdul Majid, ` 31 lakh in favour of Aisha Constructions, ` 20 lakh in favour of Rajab sons and ` 10 lakh in favour of Danish carpets.

The closure of the JKCA account CD-90606 and opening of JKCA CD 91022 has been done in connivance with the bank officials of the J&K Bank Branch Khanyar, Srinagar.

Anis Qadri who heads accounts division in corporate headquarters of one of the leading banks in New Delhi said that closing and opening of a bank account in the same branch on same day is against the RBI guidelines. He said that according to RBI guidelines there should be a valid reason for it and the bank can open such an account after a gap of six months.

A J&K Bank official, however, said that the bank can open or close the account of any individual or group at anytime depending upon the customer. He said that proper formalities were completed by the JKCA for opening CD-91022 account.

In another account CD- 03793 in Jammu and Kashmir bank branch Cargo in the name of Ahsan Mirza and Mir Manzoor Ganzafar, around ` 5.4 crore were deposited and later withdrawn over the period of three years.

A Saving Bank account in the name of the JKCA that was defunct for six years in J&K Bank Cargo Branch, Srinagar was activated by Mirza and Khan in 2009. Initially, ` 1 crore BCCI money was deposited in it and later over the period of two years ` 14 crore were deposited and withdrawn from it. The account was opened in 1999 and in 2003 it was made non-functional after ` 2 lakh were withdrawn from it.

Besides this Ahsan Mirza has availed loan of ` 1.9 crore on July 7, 2008 against the two fixed deposits of JKCA bearing number 1824619 and 1824620 of ` 1.15 crore each. The amount was credited to Ahsan Mirza's account CD- 90605 in J&K Bank Branch Khanyar, Srinagar.

Sources said that the depositing of ` 1.9 crore JKCA money by Ahsan Mirza in his own account was detected by the J&K Bank auditor in the same year but the higher officials of the bank paid no heed.

Around ` 33 crore BCCI money that was deposited and withdrawn from these three accounts has no mention in the Audit report 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 of the JKCA as it was hidden from the auditor by the JKCA.

The Audit report 2010-2011 of the JKCA showed ` 61 crore have been received by the JKCA from the BCCI so far while it showed ` 88 lakh as fixed assets and ` 56.50 crore as fixed deposits in banks. However, there is no mention of the amount received from the BCCI and deposited in the three accounts where from huge transactions were made. As per the records around ` 25 crore has been received by the JKCA this year and it has been kept in fixed deposits.

The main accused in the scam, Ahsan Mirza told Jk Newsthat he has not done these transactions singularly on his own but the other members of the JKCA were privy to it. He said that an independent inquiry should be held and if he is found guilty, he will pay every single penny to the JKCA that he is accused of swindling. He said that no one has asked him to resign and he has stepped down on his own on moral grounds.

Sasb increases quota of helicopter bookings

Midnight open air drama in Jammu

Holy Ice Lingam is in Full Bloom